Laurence Naismith

Laurence Naismith, born Lawrence Johnson on 14 December 1908 in Thames Ditton, Surrey, was an English actor whose career spanned stage, film, and television across several decades. He died on 5 June 1992. His early training included attendance at All Saints Choir School on Margaret Street in London, and his first stage credit came in 1927 as a chorus member in a production of the George Gershwin musical Oh, Kay! He subsequently built his stage experience through repertory theatre, including running his own repertory company. Before his acting career fully developed, Naismith served in the British Merchant Navy, and when the Second World War began he joined the British Army, attaining the rank of officer in the Royal Artillery.

His West End career included a 1934 appearance alongside Jack Buchanan in the musical Mr. Whittington, and in 1952 he performed at the Vaudeville Theatre in Sweet Madness by Peter Jones. Naismith made his Broadway debut in 1963 and remained active on the New York stage through 1969. His Broadway credits included the Meredith Willson musical Here's Love, in which he appeared alongside Janis Paige, as well as Billy, A Time for Singing, and the play The School for Scandal.

Naismith accumulated a substantial body of film work beginning in the 1950s. His credits included Carrington V.C. (1954), Richard III (1955), The Man Who Never Was (1956), and A Night to Remember (1958), in which he portrayed Captain Edward Smith of the RMS Titanic. He played the First Sea Lord in Sink the Bismarck! (1960) and appeared in The World of Suzie Wong that same year. In Jason and the Argonauts (1963) he took the role of Argus. He played the non-singing role of Merlin in the 1967 film adaptation of the musical Camelot, starred in the musical film Scrooge (1970), appeared in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971) as the chairman of a diamond trading syndicate, and starred in the children's ghost film The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972).

His television work was equally extensive. In 1965 he portrayed Virginia statesman George Mason in the NBC documentary series Profiles in Courage, an episode that also featured William Bakewell as George Wythe and Arthur Franz as James Madison. That same year he guest-starred as barber Gilly Bright in episode 25 of the ABC military drama 12 O'Clock High and appeared as Dr. McCallister in The Fugitive, starring David Janssen. In 1967 and 1968 he appeared in The Invaders with Roy Thinnes, and in 1969 he played Don Q Hought in an episode of Bonanza. He portrayed Judge Fulton in the 1971 television series The Persuaders!, which starred Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, and played Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph in the BBC production Fall of Eagles in 1974. Additional BBC credits included the role of the Prince of Verona in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of Romeo and Juliet and an appearance in the sitcom Oh, Father! in 1972.